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Cell Phones! Where to buy and best plans.
Hewn
Registered User regular
Registered User regular
So I've been shopping the cell phone scene and noticed that different retailers have vastly different pricing plans on phones. Buying direct from the company's website, such as Sprint, seems like a ripoff relative to other online retailers. Unless I'm missing something.
Below are the criteria I'm looking for:
- Family plan, 3 lines.
- 2 phones in one location, 1 phone in another. Thus, nationwide coverage, no roaming, etc.
- 2 of the phones must transfer old numbers, 1 phone needs new number.
- Phones don't need to be especially fancy, no smart phones, just reliable phones with a camera feature. Anything else is a perk.
- Not especially against contracts if discount is substantial on phone.
I've been looking mostly at Sprint, because of nights starting at 7pm and the coverage being reliable in both areas we need the phones.
Essentially, point me to a reputable and cheap online retailer to pick up cell phones. Or if you know of any especially solid bundles with a carrier that fit my needs, that's great too. I've only walked into stores and got ripped off buying phones, so teach me how to do it right proper!
Below are the criteria I'm looking for:
- Family plan, 3 lines.
- 2 phones in one location, 1 phone in another. Thus, nationwide coverage, no roaming, etc.
- 2 of the phones must transfer old numbers, 1 phone needs new number.
- Phones don't need to be especially fancy, no smart phones, just reliable phones with a camera feature. Anything else is a perk.
- Not especially against contracts if discount is substantial on phone.
I've been looking mostly at Sprint, because of nights starting at 7pm and the coverage being reliable in both areas we need the phones.
Essentially, point me to a reputable and cheap online retailer to pick up cell phones. Or if you know of any especially solid bundles with a carrier that fit my needs, that's great too. I've only walked into stores and got ripped off buying phones, so teach me how to do it right proper!
Steam: hewn
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
Hewn on
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I'm on at&t, née Cingular, and my wife and I share a plan with 450 minutes. We've got so many rollover minutes it's not funny. We've only used it once, and that was 2 months after we got engaged and 4 months before we got married, so it was a lot of calling and talking to people. We went over by about 40 minutes, and Cingular takes them out of the oldest pool of minutes. The point being that most people have a pretty regular amount of minutes that they use.
Generally, we found that you did get better deals in person simply because the people staffing these things know all the different plans, without you having to hunt. However, as for your criteria:
1: they all do this. Some charge more for extra lines than others. at&t is $20 I think.
2: if you stay in the US, roaming isn't an issue unless you get the cheapest, barebones plans available. Which really suck in general anyway. Roaming is basically non-existent anymore unless you regularly travel to canada, mexico, or live in rural areas with bizarre coverage.
3: they all do this. Many do it for free if you're a new customer
4: Basic free phones will all include at least a camera.
5: 2 year contract is the only way to get free/almost free phones.
If you're not using internet and texting, they're basically all identical. If you're west of the Mississippi, it seems that T-Mobile and Sprint are good. If you're east, Verizon and AT&T. Verizon gimps their phones -- AT&T do not. I've got a RAZR and can transfer pix, songs, video, whatever, to my computer and back again without any fees or services added on. Verizon doesn't. I'm not sure about the other companies. And you only get ripped off in stores if you sign the contract -- there's nothing forcing you to, and most are happy to give you pricing outlines before you sign up.
As for coverage, it really depends on the area. In the New England area, Verizon is king it seems. In the Mid Atlantic, there's an odd mix, with cingular/at&t doing very well. What do other people around you seem to have? That's a good way to see who has generally good reputations in your area.
Not that I'm against them, but I had a friend who reported spotty Verizon coverage in my place. Plus, those carriers are especially spotty with where the other 2 phones are going (Michigan).
I guess I know the score with buying in the stores, as I think I visited them all, getting a variety of pricing. But online they are basically giving away better phones with the same plans... I wanted to know if I was missing something or if there was a particular online vendor worth dealing with.
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
I can't speak to their coverage in Michigan though.
If you do go with AT&T, try to get some Sony Ericsson phones.
Sony Ericsson Walkman 580i
Right track with such a phone?
Amazon seems to offer competitive rates. Although, presently AT&T doesn't cover where my parents are (who don't use many minutes thus made sense to tack them onto the plan), but bought out Cellular One in the area and are expanding coverage there soon. Might work out.
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
www.wirefly.com
I can get 2 Sony Ericsson w580i phones free. And a free Sony Ericsoon Z310a.
Activation charges apply, about 30 a phone.
2 year contract with AT&T.
Seems like a good deal considering the phones. Yay? Nay? I'm clueless about cell phone deals.
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
As for michigan coverage, I *can* help there. As I mentioned above, my wife and I have at&t. We've driven to minnesota and also michigan, as we have family in both states. And we've visited Boston and Providence, RI. Around Ann Arbor, the at&t coverage is great. Same for most of the eastern midwest. There's always going to be oddities and pockets where phones just don't seem to work. I can also state that places we've visted where we used to have poor reception (around 2 bars) are now all up around max bars, so pretty much all of the companies seem to be expanding their networks, and I can vouch for Cingular/at&t's expansion along the I-90 corridors, at least
Verizon: Best coverage nationwide. They lock down their phones like shit though so if you are interested in ringtones, etc. you will be paying Verizon a bunch of $$ to get them. Their customer service seems to be OK. Disclaimer: I have Verizon and it has worked well since all I care about is being able to go wherever and having my phone work - I don't give a shit about smartphones, ringtones, or any of that.
AT&T: Their coverage map doesn't look that impressive. As far as I know the phones are good, and pretty unlocked (let me know if this is wrong.) I have heard that their customer support sucks balls.
Sprint: Great coverage in East Coast (maybe more) cities last I heard. Elsewhere is meh. My roommate had a Sprint phone in college (he was from NYC, this was 3-4 years ago) and it worked OK in Minnesota, but not everywhere.
T-Mobile: I know nothing about T-Mobile. They are GSM, so their coverage is probably comparable to AT&T. I don't know how much tower-sharing goes on there.
Doing some google searching it looks like Sprint/Nextel actually has a really good network.
HERE'S THE SHORT ANSWER:
You will want a phone plan that has NO ROAMING - i.e. it either works and is on a network, or it doesn't. That way you won't get caught with roaming charges. This is what I have with Verizon - it ensures that I will not rack up charges when travelling.
*edit*To add on to the no roaming thing the above poster said, I believe you can also get out of contracts sometimes if you're not happy with your service, by finding an area that's roaming and basically making your carrier drop you from their contract
Seems the best bet now is from letstalk/wirefly. They offer the biggest discounts on multiple phones. Far more than the brick and mortar stores, and even less cost than buying direct from the company. Seems odd they are so much cheaper than the source, but I guess that's how it works.
AT&T seems like the carrier of choice, for my situation. When I say Michigan, I mean my parents are living on Lake Superior. A good 8 hour drive to Detroit. For comparison's sake, Chicago is only 6 hours. The only local carriers with stores there are Alltel and Cellular One. Cellular One is turning into AT&T come January.
On a related note, when the hell did AT&T sneak back into monopoly mode?
Warframe: TheBaconDwarf
http://youtube.com/watch?v=9tn_SjL6_yU